Why learn English
Learning to speak English well may be the best thing you can do to improve your life.
Thats right. Do you think it would be fun to have access to information that other people cant get? Talk and write letters to interesting people that others cant communicate with? Impress people around you whenever you opened your mouth? Make big jumps in your career, leavingothers
miles behind?You can get all this if you speak English well.
Get access to knowledge
What are you interested in? Is it science? Music? Computers? Health? Business? Sports? Todays media such as the Internet, television, and the press give you almost unlimited access to knowledge about your favorite subjects. After all, we live in the information age, dont we?
Theres only one problem. Most of this knowledge is in English.
Here are some examples of knowledge you can use if you know English:
Most pages on the Web. Thats over a billion (1,000,000,000) pages of information! Its amazing that learning just one language gives you access toalmost all knowledge on the Internet.
Books on any subject, from all over the world. Read books by British or American authors, and books translated from other languages. Whatever youre interested in, you can read about it in English!
The press. Only English-language magazines and newspapers can be bought in every part of the world. You dont have to search for Time, Newsweek, or the International Herald Tribune!
Science. English is the key to the world of science. In 1997, 95% of the articles in the Science Citation Index were written in English. Only about 50% of them were from English-speaking countries like the USA or Britain. (source)
News reports. Watch international television networks, such as CNN International and NBC. They broadcast news much faster, and moreprofessionally, than smaller, national networks. And you can watch them everywhere in the world.
Communicate with people
We like to call English the language of communication. Why? Because it seems all the people in the world have agreed to use English to talk to each other.
About 1,500,000,000 people in the world speak English. Another 1,000,000,000 are learning it.
75% of the worlds letters and postcards are written in English.
Almost all international conferences and competitions are conducted in English. For example, the Olympics and the Miss World contest.
Diplomats and politicians from different countries use English to communicate with each other. English is the main language of organizations like the United Nations, NATO, and the European Free Trade Association.
If you can communicate in English, you can:
Contact people from all over the world. Talk about your ideas and opinions on Internet discussion groups. Send e-mail to interesting people. Learn about their life and culture.
Travel more easily. Communicate with people wherever you go English is spoken in more than 100 countries. Ask directions, have a conversation, or... ask for help. Who knows, maybe English will save your life someday!
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Push your career forward
If you want a good job in business, technology, or science, get out of that armchair and start learning English now! (If you already have a good job, start learning before you lose it!)
Knowing English will let you:
Put excellent knowledge of English on your CV. Get your dream job, and earn more money.
Gain technical knowledge. English is the language of technology, especially high technology like computer science, genetics, and medicine. If youre going to read about technology, youll probably have to do it in English.
Learn computer science. Read technical articles without difficulty. Or write your own articles!
Be a world-class businessman (or -woman). Its simple. International business is done in English. And all business today is international. So if you want to play, you have to know English to contact other businesspeople, go to conferences, read international business newspapers and magazines, etc.
Become a better scientist. Contact scientists from other countries, go to international conferences, visit academic centers abroad. Learn about new scientific discoveries by reading papers, books, and magazines.
Use your computer more effectively. Most computer applications are in English, so you will understand them better and become a betteremployee.
